If Waterman, a 22-year-old from Maine, is officially eliminated as a victim, it will be the second major setback in this mysterious case. Already the medical examiner concluded bones were not those of Shannon Gilbert.

Photos of Megan Waterman/Meganwaterman.com

Has the case been thrown into chaos?

“We were here looking for Shannon Gilbert. That was the whole reason for our searches here,” Neubauer said.

Searching for two missing prostitutes, police find four female bodies; none among them it seems is Waterman or Gilbert.

“This is an incredible coincidence for sure,” Neubauer said.

With the roar of high-technology police helicopters hovering overhead, investigators pushed westward towards Jones Beach in their urgent search for new clues.

Had they rushed to conclusions?

“We will not know for weeks the manner of death, so for us to use terminology such as murdered victims and serial killers … that would be presumptuous,” Neubauer said.

Police had raided the Oak Beach home where Gilbert had responded to a Craigslist ad for sex. They gave the man who hired her, Joseph Brewer, a polygraph. She was never seen again after that night last May.

“My prayers go out to the families, that is all,” Brewer said and then added when he was asked if he feels vindicated, “No, I am not a victim.”

Brewer’s white Jeep had just been returned to him following a DNA search by police. He said he hopes now the missing craigslist women will be found.

“We don’t consider Joseph Brewer a suspect and as I have said we have no suspects or persons of interest at this point,” Neubauer said.

Ocean Parkway was shut down in both directions again on Friday. As intense police activity continued below, a mobile command post with more than a dozen specially trained state and county police — with cadaver sniffing dogs — retraced their steps through thick underbrush, bluffs and dunes, in bitter elements off the waterfront road where the four female bodies were dropped in a sandy graveyard.

Police said the likelihood of finding more remains is remote, but investigators are leaving no stone unturned in their expanded search.